1926-27 OFF-SEASON
AWARDS
Empire League
Hitter: Finnegan Neecy, Nottingham (.335, 12 HR, 87 RBI, 79 R, 27 2B, 100 BB, .442 OBP, .473 SLG)
Pitcher: Bert Woolston, Edinburgh (24-11, 2.28 ERA, 336 IP, 64 K, 1.24 WHIP, .257 OAVG)
Manager: Charlie Hodgson, Edinburgh (80-74, 5th place)
Rookie: Joe Musson, Liverpool (.346, 9 HR, 60 RBI, 51 R, 20 2B, .537 SLG)
Dominion Association
Hitter: Hogan Orme, Bristol (.329, 19 HR, 113 RBI, 128 R, 30 2B, 109 BB, 24 SB, .437 OBP, .544 SLG)
Pitcher: Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke (25-12, 2.38 ERA, 337 IP, 174 K, 1.13 WHIP, .248 OAVG, 6 SHO)
Manager: Matt Arnett, Lambeth (92-62, 1st place)
Rookie: John Carver, Kensington (.344, 4 HR, 74 RBI, 82 R, 26 2B, 29 SB, .406 OBP, .472 SLG)
Neecy was a controversial choice for EL batter of the year. "Rhino" Bourgeois of Newcastle had a better average, more home runs, RBI, runs scored, and led the League in slugging percentage. London's Colm Catlow, who won the batting title, had 93 RBI and hit 41 doubles. Neecy, in contrast, topped the loop in only one category: on-base percentage. Arnett won his second managerial trophy. His first came in 1919 when he led Glasgow to the BA Cup. Hodgson became the first skipper of a fifth-place team to be named manager of the year.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
William Revell became the latest addition to the Hall of Fame. The right-handed pitcher won 319 games in a career split between his native Birmingham and Bristol. An eight-time twenty-game winner, Revell's best season was in 1906, when he went 30-5 with a 1.61 ERA and pitched a no-hitter, but he lost out to fellow Hall-of-Famer Arthur Nancekevell for the outstanding pitcher award. The EL honored Revell with that trophy in 1903, his sophomore season, and he appeared in eight all-star contests over the course of his twenty-year career.
Canadian native Jose Vallee, in his second season in London's outfield, knocked out three home runs in a 28 May home game against Edinburgh, but was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh, thwarting his chance to hit a record fourth return-tripper. Birmingham starter Shamus Scanlan's final victory of the season was the 365th of his career, moving him past Aaron "Fatty" Trethewey into fourth place on the all-time list.
ALLIANCE NEWS
Glasgow sent longtime starting catcher Sebastian Meadmore to Dublin for Dan Leahy, a thirty-two-year old reliever who went 5-9 with ten saves for the Shamrocks. Meadmore, in twelve seasons with the Gaelics, compiled 1,934 hits and a .316 batting average. In twenty-four post-season contests he hit .394 with ten RBI. A month after receiving the rookie of the year trophy, Liverpool's Joe Musson received a one-way ticket to Glasgow, traded for starting pitcher Eddie Allard. The left-handed Allard went 16-15 with a 3.52 ERA for the Gaelics. Bradford sent third baseman Connor MacHardie off to Manchester for reliever Shane "Ducky" Vittery. MacHardie batted .331 for the Badgers but he remained shaky defensively. Vittery led the DA in saves in 1925 but slumped in 1926 while splitting his time between Stoke and Manchester, going a combined 5-11 with ten saves in fifty-nine games.
WESTMINSTER NEWS
Westminster fans started the season viewing the youthful roster with cautious optimism. The average age of the starting lineup on opening day was twenty-six. Three regulars -- Tad Packham, Eddie Whittingham, and Bobby Langdon -- were under twenty-five. The team's management was clearly taking the risk that these callow youths would fold under the pressure of a big-league season. The problem, though, didn't turn out to be the players' age -- Whittingham hit .332 in his debut season and Langdon hit .306 -- but rather their health. Packham, pencilled in as the regular first baseman coming out of spring training, pulled a back muscle in a 16 July game and missed the rest of the season. Twenty-six-year old sophomore outfielder John Wearne spent six weeks recuperating from a fractured rib. And the team's starting and back-up catchers, Johan Zippro and Robert Nethersole, both went on the sixty-day disabled list in June, forcing the team to raid the minors for replacements. What started as a promising year turned into a series of disappointments as the Peers could never seem to gain any traction until the very end of the schedule, when it was already too late to compete for the pennant.
SPRING TRAINING 1927
There was little doubt that Liverpool was the odds-on favorite to win their fifth-straight EL pennant, with Westminster and Birmingham a distant second and third. Lambeth looked like a winner to the touts, as the Lambs were favored to top Belfast and Glasgow in a tight race.
Leeds reliever Dexter Lockyer, who compiled a 7-2 record with eight saves and a 1.31 ERA last year, tore a shoulder muscle in spring training and will be out of action until at least July. Sheffield relief ace "Dashing" Mark Lewis will miss the entire 1927 season after undergoing elbow ligament surgery. Lewis appeared in sixty-seven contests for the Steelers last year, winning ten of nineteen decisions and saving twelve games.
Westminster and Glasgow shared the spring derby crown with identical 15-9 records.